Three Pure Ones
by Myobi
Summary: Kadaj has been granted 3 more days to live, to see life through his own eyes. Though unsure if this was secure to do, Cloud decides to help out... Warning: Yaoi
1. Prologue

Oh oh oh, a new story! And I haven't submitted anything for a year...I should update my previous stories, but...I've kinda lost the feel of them. xD Gah. Either way, if anyone here have ever tried to contact me via mail...the mail I used here is kinda dead, so, I'm sorry that I haven't replied, in that case...

Oh well. **New** story! A random idea I got, which I'll hopefully get through with. I already have the next two chapters ready. :)

"Kadaj has been granted 3 more days to live, to see life through his own eyes. Though unsure if this was secure to do, Cloud decides to help out..."

Enjoy reading. xD

--

**PROLOGUE**

It was only one package left to deliver, once that was done he'd promised Tifa to come right back home to Seventh Heaven. It wasn't long since the events of Kadaj and his brothers, and once after, when Cloud had started to actually be around Tifa and the kids, the woman made sure he would keep being there, making him promise.

The last package was supposed to be delivered to a house around the outskirts of Edge, which meant 10 minutes away or so. Driving past where Bahamut had wreaked havoc two weeks ago it was surprising to see how much they'd been able to repair already, though it still was much more to do. Although the three brothers' destructions had startled the entire city, it seemed to Cloud that most of the city had already gotten over it, though; he himself was a different matter. He'd ended up thinking about them a lot. He wondered about where they'd come from, where they'd been before they appeared in Edge, how they'd become the way they were, how old they were, and of all things, where they were now, when dead. He wished there were someone who could answer him, but it obviously wasn't. These thoughts kept spinning around in his head, even now, when heading towards the last house to deliver a package to.

--

Delivering the package itself went quickly, handing it over and having the nice old lady sign the paper. Turning as she closed the door, Cloud headed back towards his bike, sighing contently as another day of package delivering was done. Swinging his leg over the bike, he was about to start it up to head back to Seventh Heaven when something made him stop up. Just now, had he seen..?

Cloud turned his head, looking towards the street between two buildings. Had he just seen Kadaj? It wasn't possible. All these thoughts about the kid must've made him hallucinate. Shrugging, Cloud lent forwards once again, starting Fenrir, but he didn't take off. Once again he saw him, and he stopped the bike once again to check.

Kadaj was standing there. He really was. Staring back at Cloud as he stared at Kadaj. Neither moved for the next minute passing. Kadaj was no longer wearing the leather clothes he had before, instead he wore some loose black pants and a dark red, thin sweater that seemed to be a little too big for him, and on his feet he had some old brown shoes. It seemed like he didn't have his sword with him, but Cloud wasn't sure, he wasn't even sure if what he saw was real. Kadaj was supposed to be dead, what was he doing, standing there?

Cloud did the first move, getting off of Fenrir, scowling at Kadaj as he slowly walked closer. Kadaj didn't move, didn't scowl back, he just kept staring, until Cloud was only a few feet away from him, then he absently took two steps back.

"Kadaj?"

It was all Cloud managed to say, in a low, unpleased tone, trying to keep his confusion from showing. All Kadaj did as a response was raising his eyebrows slightly, crossing his arms over his chest, shrugging as if there weren't any need for Cloud's question.

"…you're dead." Cloud continued, still scowling, although it didn't seem like Kadaj was affected by the scowl, instead he simply smirked and shook his head, finally replying.

"Not right now."

"How?"

Another silence. Cloud was almost worried he wouldn't get an answer, but after seemingly thinking for a bit, the youth replied.

"I was allowed…three more days."

Cloud raised an eyebrow. What on earth did that mean? Three more days? Why? And from who? That was the question he decided to ask.

"From who?"

Kadaj's smiled, almost evilly, Cloud wasn't sure if that simply was Kadaj's normal smile or if it was meant to be evil.

"From your flower girl. Aerith."

Cloud's scowl faded at the mention of her name, being unable to keep his reaction to it from showing, something that seemingly amused Kadaj as he giggled softly with an evil undertone. Had Aerith let this cruel creature be around for three more days? Why three more days? What if the youth would wreak havoc once again? Cloud knew Kadaj was well capable of doing so in only three days.

"…why?"

Now Kadaj laughed, shaking his head as if Cloud was such an idiot.

"Stop asking!" he then said, letting his arms down at his sides again, "she gave me three more days, as me, only me, so I could see life as it truly is. At least that's what she said. I don't know! Why do you care? I'll be gone again in three days, don't worry."

At the last words, Cloud thought he could hear a slight sadness added to the youth's voice, but decided not to care for it. This kid shouldn't be here in the first place anyway. Letting him back, if so for only three days, was insane. He was insane.

"And what are you doing?" Cloud didn't bother the fact that Kadaj just told him to quit asking, he wanted to know, and Kadaj shouldn't order him anyway.

"Looking around."

"At me?"

"I didn't expect to see you, that's all."

It seemed now like Kadaj had grown bored of it all, not so weird though, if he only had three days to live, using them to answer all of Cloud's questions couldn't be his first choice of things to use them on. Kadaj didn't even bother to say bye, or any of the like, as he simply turned and begun to walk away.

Cloud simply stared after him at first, hundreds of thoughts going through his mind at the same time. This wasn't right. Kadaj was insane. He couldn't let a remnant like Kadaj just walk around in Edge alone. He couldn't deny the youth though, that wouldn't be right. And what if it really was Aerith who'd let this happen? She'd brought Cloud back after all, but Cloud wasn't **insane**. Damn it. If he followed Kadaj, Kadaj would get mad. He couldn't do that, but…

"Perhaps I could show you around then?"

Cloud couldn't believe himself, calling this out after Kadaj. But it was the only option he had. If Kadaj allowed this, it would allow Cloud to make sure Kadaj wouldn't do anything bad, yet it would seem as if he didn't mind that Kadaj was alive.

Kadaj had turned, staring at him with a disbelieving look. Though once he'd realized that Cloud wasn't joking, his face became thoughtful, actually considering the offer before asking.

"Show me what then?"

"Edge. Life. …whatever you want to see."

Kadaj thought for a little longer, before he concluded with a nod.

"Fine."

And so they walked down the street together in silence.


	2. Unity

Thanks alot, mary, for noticing the errors in the prologue. I can't believe I managed to do the same error so many times. xD I will make sure to look thoroughly after the same error in the next chapters so it hopefully won't happen again. Haha, thanks!

--

**UNITY**

"What would you like to see first?"

Cloud asked, figuring that it was stupid to walk without any destination when he had offered to actually show him around, but Kadaj just shrugged, having put his arms over his chest again as he walked with his head down, staring at his own feet as he walked. It made Cloud question even more why Kadaj had been allowed to see life once again, when the youth didn't even bother to see more than his own two feet.

"I don't know…enlighten me." Kadaj mumbled, sounding almost uninterested. It caused Cloud to sigh. This was pointless; Kadaj didn't bother about life, did he? Why was he doing this? Cloud stopped up, startling Kadaj slightly who'd been walking a little behind him, almost crashing into the taller man.

"There got to be something you want to see. Why else would you be brought back?" Cloud stated matter-of-factly, looking at Kadaj, who stared blankly back before he sighed as if annoyed.

"Fine," he then replied, "I…" Kadaj thought for a second, "I want to see…Edge. And the world…no, drop the world; I can't see that in only three days. I want to see how people live their lives, what people do normally. I want to know what life is about, if it at all has a meaning. Not that I think it has…"

There was silence for a bit then. Kadaj seeming embarrassed, staring at Cloud's arm, obviously not really aware that he was, though. And Cloud looked at him. Maybe, just maybe…there was a reason for this.

"What people do normally…" Cloud thought out loud, "…follow me." He then said, starting to walk again, Kadaj quietly following.

--

"A café?" Kadaj asked, unsure and rather surprised at where they now stood, right in front of a small café. Cloud simply nodded at him, so he continued, "…why a café?"

"Because you wanted to see what people do normally. People go to café's now and then, normally." When Kadaj just kept looking at him questioningly, Cloud further answered, "people go here, have a cup of coffee or tea and talk. Talk would be a good idea, I think."

"…talk about what?" Kadaj asked.

"About you. I want to know more about this." Cloud answered.

"Know more about wha—HEY" Before Kadaj had finished the question Cloud had already entered the café, making Kadaj pout. Though without knowing why himself, he followed after. Once inside, he stopped up beside Cloud, who was looking at the selection of warm drinks that were listed on the wall. Seeing Kadaj, Cloud gave him a quick glance before asking, "What do you want to drink?"

"…I don't have any money."

"Figured that much. I'm paying. So what do you want?"

Kadaj looked at him for a while, not really getting why he would bother buying him anything, but soon turned his head to look at the list. Not really used to such a big selection of warm drinks, Kadaj simply went for plain coffee, and once having told Cloud that, he was asked to go find a table and sit by it. Surprisingly enough, even though he hated being ordered, he just walked over and found one, sitting down and waiting for Cloud, who came soon after with a cup of coffee to Kadaj and himself.

They were both quiet, Cloud unsure where to start, Kadaj unsure at what they were actually going to talk about. Why did they have to talk in the first place..? Yet, Cloud seemed to finally have found the words to start with, and begun speaking.

"What are you actually doing here?" he simply asked, taking a sip of his coffee while Kadaj raised an eyebrow.

"I already told you that."

"I know. But it doesn't make sense. Three more days as only you?" Kadaj nodded, "…what do you mean only you?"

Kadaj sat back for a second, having still not touched his coffee at all. He thought for a while before he shrugged, trying to explain something he didn't really understand himself.

"Without…Mother. And Sephiroth. To have my mind for myself, alive, for three days."

It would've sounded completely strange for most, but Cloud found himself understanding this. It wasn't like he hadn't been controlled by those two once himself. Would this mean that all the time he'd fought Kadaj, he'd been controlled? Had Kadaj been controlled all his life? It would at least explain why Kadaj now suddenly was calm enough to accept a cup of coffee, calmly sitting by a table on a café answering questions.

"So you've always been controlled by those two?" Cloud bluntly asked, watching as Kadaj furrowed his eyebrows, looking at him with an annoyed look as he didn't bother to answer this question.

"Why do you want to know all this?" he asked instead.

"I'm curious."

"Why?"

Once again they sat in silence, looking at each other. Kadaj with a questioning look, awaiting Cloud to answer properly, but Cloud clearly didn't intend to do so. Realizing this, Kadaj made his usual annoyed sound, like a cat's, and shook his head.

"It's not like you answer my questions!" He then stated, debating if he should maybe just walk away from this stupid blonde man who supposedly was his enemy. Still, he couldn't help but being a little curious himself, about Cloud.

"Why aren't you trying to kill me?" Kadaj asked coldly, glaring at Cloud with his emerald eyes.

"Because you're not trying to kill me. And so far you haven't done any damage." Cloud answered. Kadaj's glare faded slightly as he tilted his head as a sign that he didn't fully understand, and Cloud sighed, "Unless you try to hurt someone, I don't see the reason to hurt you. I only do so if it's completely necessary, and even then I dislike hurting."

It surprised Kadaj, that answer, and his glare faded completely as he asked, "So, you disliked killing me?"

Cloud looked down, suddenly, as if the mention of it actually hurt him.

"Of course. But it had to be done." He then said, taking another sip at his coffee as he slowly looked back up, seeing Kadaj having a shocked face of some sort. He then looked down at Kadaj's still untouched coffee, making Kadaj realize that Cloud was almost done with his coffee while he hadn't drunk any. In which Kadaj grabbed the cup and swallowed it all down quickly. Not before he'd sat the cup back down and ended up coughing as a reaction to the amount of foul taste down his throat he realized what a stupid action that had been. All Cloud did was watch. He couldn't help but think that Kadaj's action had been rather cute, sort of.

"Are you alright?" Cloud asked once the youth had calmed down the coughing, eyes full of tears almost spilling due to the coughing Kadaj glanced at him, but didn't bother to answer. It was rather embarrassing, so instead of saying anything at all, he just stared in a different direction while drying his eyes with the sleeves of his sweater.

Cloud shrugged, finishing his coffee, without coughing, and stood up.

"Let's go then." He said, Kadaj looking back up at him with a slightly surprised look.

"Where?" The teen asked, but Cloud just started to walk towards the door, Kadaj hurrying to follow soon after.

"You wanted to see the world?" Cloud asked once they were outside of the café again, getting a quiet and unsure yes in reply, "…I can't show you that much, but follow me." Cloud then said, beginning to walk once again.

--

"Cloud, why didn't you bring your bike if you were going to follow me?" Kadaj asked, annoyed, they'd walked rather far now. Not that Kadaj would have had any other choice but to walk if he was by himself, but when Cloud first decided that he wanted to 'come along' he could've brought his bike. It would've brought them to places so much quicker. Again Cloud didn't answer, though. He had probably not thought of it, and Kadaj pouted in annoyance once more.

They were walking on the road that leads to nowhere, the one that just suddenly stops. Where Kadaj and Cloud had fought before, falling down the hill and ended in the slums. When Cloud reached the end of it, he stopped. He didn't say anything, he just stood there without even turning towards Kadaj, who stopped and looked at him, confused.

"Here?"

Cloud gave a small nod in reply, still not looking at Kadaj.

"…this isn't the world." Kadaj stated matter-of-factly, looking at Cloud as if he was the weirdest creature Kadaj had ever seen.

"But you can see it." Cloud stated. Then he pointed, right forward into the horizon, where one could see past the dead lands around Midgar, to the trees and mountains past that, and the orange skies as the sun had begun to go down. Kadaj looked, and was about to say that that were a rather dumb way of 'seeing the world', but he never got himself to do so, cause as he looked, he realized that it actually was very pretty. So he simply looked, quietly without caring about the guy standing beside him, who was now thinking thoroughly once again at the matter. It was around 6 pm now, after this walk. If Kadaj first wanted to see life, flying past it on Fenrir wouldn't work, Cloud thought. Now they'd been walking, passing people who were on their way home from work, on their way to shopping, eating out, and so on. They'd passed a couple who'd been kissing passionately in the middle of the street, and Cloud had noticed Kadaj giving them a quite questioning look, obviously finding the action weird. Now they stood here watching 'the world', and it had occurred to Cloud, that if sunset were now, then how much of Kadaj's three days had the youth already spent, alone? He ended up asking, causing the youth to finally look away from the mountains, looking at him instead.

"I've been around since this morning. I don't know the exact time, but it was early."

Cloud nodded.

"So there's only a few hours left until it's the end of your first day." He said, in which it was Kadaj's turn to nod, "…where are you going to stay?"

"Stay?"

"Yes. To sleep."

Kadaj looked at him as if he was dumb, saying, "I'm not going to sleep."

"Won't that make you tired?"

"Tsk. If I sleep, I'll waste half of the time I have. I don't care if I'll get tired."

It was understandable, so Cloud didn't ask further. Yet this would make Cloud have to stay up for three days as well, to follow his own plan of looking after Kadaj to make sure the youth didn't do anything bad. Cloud sighed, which Kadaj noted, telling him, "It's not like you have to stay awake with me. You've showed me things now. Thank you. If you want to go home, you can do so."

"I'll stay with you." Cloud quickly replied.

"…why?" Kadaj clearly didn't get this, but again Cloud didn't bother to reply, annoying Kadaj more. The youth shook his head, looking back at the horizon just like Cloud did. Some minutes later Cloud moved to sit down against the side of the road, still not saying anything.

"…the ShinRa building is ugly." Kadaj commented randomly, as he could also see that one when looking out at the horizon, it stood there as the main ruins of Midgar.

Cloud chuckled lightly at that comment. "Yeah…" he said, looking at the ShinRa building as well, "ever been inside it before it got ruined?" he asked Kadaj, a way of getting to know where Kadaj had been before they met. By Kadaj's nod, Cloud asked another question, "An experiment, were you?"

"…I guess you could say that." Kadaj mumbled, moving away from the edge of the road to sit down beside Cloud, though a meter or so away from him, changing the subject with, "do you still live in that church?"

"No."

"Where do you live now then?"

"With my family." Cloud said, that is what Tifa called them, so…which reminded him that he should've headed straight back to Seventh Heaven after work. Tifa was probably mad or worried now, but it was too late to change that.

"You have a family?" Kadaj asked with slight surprise in his voice.

"Kinda." Cloud mumbled, "We act as a family."

"So you have a wife? And children?"

"No. And they're orphans. That's why we just act like one."

"I see…" Kadaj mumbled, glad Cloud was finally starting to answer his questions as well, "You're a delivery boy, right?"

Cloud nodded, and then there was silence. Silence seemed to occur a lot, as both of them were deep in thought. Then Kadaj furrowed his eyebrows as he said, "I've always been controlled by them." An answer to Cloud's earlier question. All Cloud did was glance at him, without replying, so Kadaj continued, "I couldn't really control it all. In fact, I didn't really care about Mother as much as it seemed like…"

"She's not you mother." Cloud mumbled.

"I know." Kadaj's voice was vaguely irritated, "If they hadn't…said so much, I don't think I would've done what I did."

Cloud was a little surprised at this. Was Kadaj trying to apologize? Or perhaps he was just explaining. Cloud wasn't sure.

"You understand…right?" Kadaj then asked, and Cloud thought he could hear a slight tone of hope in the youth's voice. Looking up, he saw Kadaj straight into the eyes for a few seconds before replying.

"…I guess."

At once a smile was brought to Kadaj's face, and before Cloud had time to react, he was hugged by the teen. A tight hug that lasted long enough for Cloud to get used to the feel of Kadaj's silky hair brushing his nose, and that soft cheek against his. He was simply too stunned to react at first, only a little after was he able to stutter out, "Kadaj, what...?"

The teen let go of him then, sitting down in front of him as he said, "It's what people give someone when they're grateful, right? A hug."

"Grateful for what?"

"That you understand."

"I only said 'I guess'."

Kadaj shrugged, "good enough." And then he smiled at Cloud, a kind smile Cloud had never thought would ever appear on those lips that had always shown cruel smirks and nothing else. Kadaj tilted his head a little, and once he noticed that they were about to go back to another moment of silence, he began to talk.

"I want us to be friends, Cloud, or at least not enemies." He said, "I don't want any enemies during the last three days of my life. First I thought I would just make sure not to crash into you, but now that I have, I want us to be friends."

"Why the sudden kindness?" Cloud said dryly, and Kadaj seemed almost hurt at how uncaring Cloud seemed.

"…because she got them out of my mind." He answered, "besides, they're dead…there's no reason for me to fight for them."

Cloud didn't answer. Just turned his head and stared up at the sky, and so did Kadaj.


	3. Wholeness

**WHOLENESS**

"Are you sleepy?" Kadaj asked, as he'd looked over at Cloud, who seemed to have his eyes half closed. They'd been sitting there for at least 2 hours now, and it had gotten much darker. But Cloud shook his head, opened his eyes fully again and stood up.

"Let's go somewhere else." He mumbled, looking down at Kadaj, "I'm not sleepy now, but I will be if we keep just sitting here."

Kadaj nodded, standing up, "Where shall we go then?"

Cloud sighed, not wanting to be the one deciding that once again. Despite the fact he was the 'leader' of Avalanche, he actually hated being the one to make the decisions.

"You decide." He stated to Kadaj, who immediately got an unsure look on his face.

"But I don't know! How could I know? I've barely ever been here before!" the youth exclaimed, putting his hands on his hips to clarify that he simply wouldn't. Cloud would have to. When the blonde had offered to show him around, he should do so, not have Kadaj decide places he didn't know.

"Fine…" Cloud sighed again, blinking a couple of times to get the drowsiness out of his eyes. He had, to be honest, gotten slightly sleepy by just sitting there for so long, but it was nothing a walk wouldn't fix, "how old are you?" he asked Kadaj, having an idea he weren't sure he could go through with.

"18. I think." Kadaj said, though obviously not very sure.

"Good." Cloud mumbled, "Then let's go to a bar. A bar where they serve food. I'm hungry."

It had been so long since Cloud had last gotten the chance to drink a couple of beers or so, not that he was such a big fond of drinking often, but right at this moment it sounded very tempting. And when he first had a reason to not be at home with Tifa and the kids, he didn't see why not. And going to bars, that was something people often did, so it would be a worthy experience for Kadaj. Kadaj himself gave Cloud a strange look, having realized that Cloud was obviously sleepy, but if the man didn't want to admit so himself, Kadaj wouldn't bother caring about it either.

"A bar, huh?" Kadaj had never tried any alcohol drink before, he knew it did weird things to people, but he didn't really know what, and since people obviously kept drinking it, it couldn't be dangerous. This would maybe be a good experience? He curiously followed Cloud.

--

The place was noisy. And though looking like something similar to the café on the outside, on the inside it was completely different. Kadaj was suddenly glad Cloud had gotten more awake on the way here, had he been alone, this place would've almost been scary when he didn't have his Souba with him. Luckily Cloud seemed to have been to places like this many times before, and he simply walked over and sat down at one of the tables a little away from the most crowded part of the place, in the corner. Sitting down towards Cloud at the table, Kadaj placed his hands on it and looked back at all the people dancing on the floor away from them. It looked kind of dorky, in his opinion.

"What would you like to drink this time?" Cloud asked, making Kadaj turn his head away from the crazy people and look at him again.

"I don't know. I've never tried any."

"Then what do you want to eat?"

Kadaj shook his head, "I don't know."

Instead of answering, Cloud just stood up and went over to buy something, seemingly not caring to force Kadaj to decide this time.

While the blonde was off ordering, Kadaj sat by himself, not able to get his eyes off of the weird dances, and those women with barely any clothes…they disgusted him, made him wrinkle his nose as he watched.

"Why hello there…" A dark voice said behind him, and he turned his head to see a broad man take Cloud's seat, "aren't you one pretty lad?" he said, seductive, Kadaj looking at him with an annoyed, questioning look.

"Why would you care?" he asked, glaring, "you're sitting on Cloud's seat."

The other man laughed.

"Cloud, eh?" the man asked, slowly leaning towards Kadaj, who kept glaring, "is Cloud your boyfriend?"

Kadaj wasn't sure what he meant. Sure Cloud was a male, and Kadaj hoped he could soon call him a friend, but boyfriend? What did he mean by that? Though he didn't really get the chance to figure that one out as the man was reaching a hand out towards him, seemingly about to brush his cheek, something Kadaj wouldn't allow. Aiming, Kadaj was about to give the man a quick, hard punch in the face, though he never got that far due to someone grabbing a hold of his hand midway. Cloud had returned, now holding Kadaj's fist in a firm grip while looking at the other man, who had managed to in fact brush Kadaj's cheek, seeing as Kadaj had been stopped from punching him. The man now giving Cloud a sheepish grin.

"Could you please move away from my seat?" Cloud asked, calmly. Clearly the other man had noted the amount of muscles on Cloud's body, so he didn't hesitate as he nodded and went away.

Though the man had left, Cloud kept a hold of Kadaj's fist for a little longer, as the youth was trembling in rage. Cloud wasn't sure if Kadaj might run after and kill the guy if he let go.

"Calm down." He said, looking at Kadaj, who turned his head quickly towards him, glaring at him although the glare was actually meant towards the other guy, teeth clenched as he tried to calm himself down. With a shake of his head that made his hair fly back and forth, Kadaj finally calmed, Cloud letting go of his fist.

"You don't need to get that angry." Cloud said, sitting down.

"I can't help it." Kadaj said, voice still with an angry tone, eyes staring down at the table, still slightly glaring. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and breathed out again before looking at Cloud, "I didn't get what he was talking about anyway, but he shouldn't touch me."

"He probably found you attractive." Cloud mumbled, looking to see if the drinks he'd ordered would be sent over to their table soon.

"Attractive?" Kadaj tilted his head, Cloud nodding.

"Yeah. Pretty."

"Why would he do that because he thinks I'm pretty?" Kadaj first asked, but didn't let Cloud answer before he remembered the other question he was wondering about, "hey, what does 'boyfriend' mean? How could you be my boyfriend?"

Cloud simply looked back at him for a bit, not really sure if he would be able to answer that, and also quite surprised Kadaj didn't know. Still, he tried his best to find the best words to explain, and meanwhile, a waiter came over and placed two glasses of beer at their table, Cloud waiting until the waiter had left again before answering.

"I could be your boyfriend if…we both loved each other." He tried, Kadaj busy inspecting the beer by looking at it and smell it, obviously not liking it so far, although he hadn't tasted it yet. Though he seemed to have listened to what Cloud had said, as he looked back up for a bit to ask, "Does that mean that, for example, Yazoo was my boyfriend? And Loz?"

"Did you kiss them?"

"No!" Kadaj said, surprised Cloud could ask such a thing, "…so kisses are needed for one to be my boyfriend?"

"Kind of, and…a special kind of love…and sometimes…other things." Cloud said, not at all good with explanations, hoping they were done with the subject soon.

"Sex?" Kadaj asked bluntly. Cloud looking a bit surprised.

"So you know about sex, but not boyfriends?"

"Is that bad?"

"No." Cloud leaned forward and drank some of his beer before asking, "Ever going to drink yours?" watching as Kadaj still looked sceptical about drinking his beer, considering its smell. Slowly, the youth leaned forward and took a trying sip, wrinkling his nose immediately after.

"Ew! Gross!" He exclaimed, pushing the beer slightly away from himself. Cloud didn't care to bother about it; he just kept sipping on his own beer, while Kadaj looked at him, ignoring his own.

"I don't feel weird." Kadaj suddenly said, making Cloud raise an eyebrow.

"Huh?"

"Aren't one supposed to feel weird after drinking alcohol?"

Cloud laughed. A very small laugh. It had been a while since he had, so it almost surprised himself. Then he answered, "Drunk? You need to drink a whole lot more than that to get drunk."

"Oh…" Kadaj said, almost disappointed. He'd kind of wanted to feel that feeling, as he'd heard of it and seen people being it. People looked so happy when drunk, for some reason. He stared at the beer. Debating. Only three days. If he tried this now, he had the two other days for other things, he couldn't waste the chance. Grabbing the glass of beer he drank more of it, though from the other experience that day he made sure not to drink all of it at once. Cloud found it rather amusing, though didn't say anything as he kept drinking his own.

--

Although Cloud claimed he wasn't drunk, Kadaj clearly wasn't sober any longer now, as they walked out of the bar again around midnight. He could feel a weird, tingling feeling all over, and he felt so light, and happy, without reason. He just kept laughing. Cloud couldn't be sober either, he had a cocky grin on his face that so surely wasn't alike Cloud normally, and he actually laughed softly for each time Kadaj leaned on him as they walked. Neither could any longer count how many times Kadaj had asked for another glass. After he'd gotten used to the taste of beer, or rather forced himself to get used to it, he'd been completely destined on getting drunk. And when Kadaj first had another beer, Cloud decided to have another as well, each time. Now they were stumbling down the street, Cloud a bit steadier than Kadaj as he was more used to alcohol.

They'd ended up never ordering any food, although that had been the main reason for choosing exactly that bar, as it sold food as well. Cloud had forgotten within the amusement of Kadaj's wish to get drunk, and now he didn't fully recognize the slight hunger due to the amount of alcohol. Kadaj kept stumbling now and then as they walked, now and then crashing into Cloud when he did, and each time he stumbled, he laughed as if it was the funniest thing in the world. Even when he crashed into a complete stranger who passed by, he laughed.

"What the…" The stranger, and his slightly taller friend, stopped up, turning, "What the hell is he doing here?!"

Cloud and Kadaj turned to face them, and it was first then that Cloud noticed that this 'stranger' was in fact Reno, and his friend Rude. Reno's eyes were wide and his mouth hung open. Rude on the other hand…it was impossible to read his reaction, eyes hidden behind sunglasses. Kadaj seemingly didn't recognize them as anyone he'd met before, he just smiled widely and kept giggling a little from the stumble, something that made Cloud consider that it might have been a bit too many beers on the youth after all. Perhaps he was a little too drunk.

"Reno." Cloud greeted, nodding at the redhead, "Rude." He then greeted his partner. It annoyed him that he just couldn't get the slight smile off of his face, not with that continued giggle from Kadaj that amused him more than it should. But, at least he didn't laugh. That would ruin everything.

Reno twitched. Reviving from the shock at seeing the silver haired boy. Being one used to such behaviours himself, he quickly figured out what was wrong with Kadaj.

"And he's fucking drunk!" he exclaimed. Looking back and forth from Cloud and Kadaj to Rude, "What's going on??"

Cloud waved his hand a bit uncharacteristically.

"Nothing, he'll be gone again on Sunday he says." Cloud explained, not really liking that they'd crashed into the Turks, though he still smiled.

"And you believe him?!" Reno said, pointing at Kadaj, who still just giggled without paying attention, he was oddly staring at Rude's face. Rude coughing slightly, revealing that he didn't really like the teen's eyes on him.

"I won't know if it's true or not before Sunday." Cloud pointed out.

"Those!" Kadaj suddenly exclaimed, pointing at Rude's sunglasses, "I've never tried to wear that before!"

And before anyone was able to react, Kadaj had snatched Rude's sunglasses off of the bold man's nose, trying them himself. Exclaiming a "Woah!" as his vision got slightly darker, before he laughed once more.

Cloud tried hard not to chuckle. He shouldn't find this so funny. It annoyed him, yet amused him even further. Glancing at Reno again, he made another point.

"It's not like he seem capable of doing any harm."

Reno shook his head, not able to keep his eyes off of the laughing Kadaj now.

"Fuck, what have you been giving him?" he asked.

"Beer."

Reno shook his head again, reaching into his pocket to get a smoke, holding it before his mouth as he lit it, though he never got the chance to put it into his mouth as Kadaj quickly snatched that too.

"Haven't tried this either." Kadaj stated, before putting the smoke into his mouth, taking in a deep breath, soon after having to take the smoke out again as he coughed severely. Cloud was unsure if he should be concerned or not. It was either way still amusing to look at Kadaj, who still wore Rude's sunglasses as the bold man seemingly didn't dare to take them back, having taken out his extra pair instead, wearing those.

"Holy shit, Chocobo head." Reno said, vague amusement in his voice, "managed to make him very drunk didn't ya!"

Cloud shrugged, which Reno then did in return.

"We should tell the Boss about this." The redhead mumbled, about to turn and walk away.

"There's no need. I'll take care of it." Cloud replied, Reno glancing at him.

"You better do, yo!" He said, before walking away from them, Rude following. Cloud could vaguely hear Reno rambling on to his partner about how crazy it was that the little shit was back, though Kadaj seemed not to pay attention to that either, being about to try smoking once again. Yet this time Cloud had sense enough to take the smoke out of Kadaj's fingers before it reached his lips.

"You've tried that now." He stated, Kadaj looking at him, a little startled, before once again laughing, making Cloud sigh, "Let's go."

Still wearing the unfitting sunglasses, Kadaj followed, stumbling and giggling, after Cloud. Crashing into the blonde several times, Cloud cursing himself as he was unable to keep himself from chuckling.

--

They'd reached the small park in Edge now. Cloud felt he was finally able to keep his own amusement over Kadaj in check, while Kadaj were laughing a little less, but only a little.

As Cloud reached the closest bench he sat down, a little too abruptly for Kadaj, who stumbled over him and fell face down over the bench. It made the youth laugh out loud once again, simply lying there over the bench, stomach over Cloud, face in his hands as he kept laughing. It caused Cloud's control to fade a little once again as a smile spread over his face.

"Damn it, Kadaj…" Cloud mumbled, grabbing the teen by the waist, making him sit up beside him, sunglasses falling off of his face. Kadaj even had tears in his eyes as he kept laughing; obviously still greatly affected by the alcohol.

There were barely any other people around there. Cloud could only note three guys on the other side of the park from where they sat, who seemed busy joking around over there. As Kadaj still laughed, drying tears with his sleeves, Cloud got out his cellphone from his pocket. First now he saw that Tifa had tried to call him. Three times. It must've been while he and Kadaj were at the bar with all the loud music. Sighing, he put the phone away again. He would think out what to do about that tomorrow, he would either way return once Kadaj were gone again. Looking over at the youth, he asked, "Enjoying the feel of being drunk?"

Kadaj removed his hands from his eyes.

"I am drunk?" He then asked, blinking away the last tears, although he still slightly giggled.

"Obviously." Cloud said.

"But you said I wasn't!"

"Yes. That was before I saw that you can't even walk."

Kadaj laughed once again, Cloud chuckling lightly. After a few more minutes with laughter from Kadaj while Cloud just sat there, the teen let out a rather loud, happy sigh as he fell back against the bench, leaning his head on Cloud's shoulder. Neither of them seeming to think about it, or bother. They sat that way in silence for a while, except that the silence was now and then broken by random giggles from Kadaj. Either the youth were thinking of many random, weird things, or it was his insanity that showed a little. It would either way look weird for passing people that a silver haired boy was sitting there against a quiet man, giggling at nothing. Cloud was glad there weren't any people around; even the three guys seemed to have left now. Once again the sleepiness came to his eyes as the alcohol slowly faded, and before he realized it himself, he fell asleep.


	4. Truth

**TRUTH**

Cloud woke by someone forcing him to sit up right. He didn't bother to open his eyes at first, because those hands pushing him were gone soon after. And he decided to just lie back down, though when he tried to do so, something was in the way, yet this something was steady and slightly warm, so he didn't mind. He could feel on his sleepiness that he definitely hadn't slept for long, so his body simply refused to wake up yet.

Lying there for a bit, it didn't take long before those hands returned, though this time they were ruffling his hair, then seemingly trying to push it down in hopes of making it look less gravity defying. Something Cloud knew was a hopeless task, as well as it annoyed him greatly. It was annoying enough to have him manage to finally open his eyes and sit up.

Kadaj. Damn. He'd just been leaning on Kadaj's chest, of all things. Cloud groaned. What time was it? He pulled out his phone. 6 am. Considering they'd left the bar around midnight he'd definitely not gotten his precious 6 hours of sleep by now. Not that he had planned to sleep in the first place, but when he ended up sleeping after all, he wished he had gotten to sleep for 6 hours. Soon his trail of thoughts were interrupted by Kadaj leaning towards him to continue the impossible task of making his hair lie down, looking quite determined.

"Stop it." Cloud mumbled, pushing Kadaj's hands away.

"How do you make it like that?" Kadaj then said, surprisingly enough stopping when Cloud told him to, sitting back down.

"It just is that way." Cloud answered, feeling with his hands if Kadaj had managed to ruin his hair, although Cloud would probably be the only one to notice if he had.

"That's impossible." Kadaj claimed, frowning.

"Not for my hair."

"How?"

Cloud shook his head, not bothering to answer further on the subject as Kadaj seemingly didn't want to accept the simple fact that that's just how his hair was. Realizing this, Kadaj pouted, crossing his arms over his chest as he leant back against the bench.

"What were you doing while I slept?" Cloud asked, leaning back against the bench as well.

"Nothing. Just walked around." Kadaj said, seemingly grumpy, though Cloud didn't really understand why, "Met this…cat. Or dog. I'm not sure."

"You don't know the difference between cats and dogs?"

"They walk on four legs, are shorter than humans, and are covered in fur. It's not that easy. Either way, it was cute. So I played with it."

"I see." Cloud mumbled, quite surprised that Kadaj hadn't left him while he slept, "Haven't slept at all?"

Kadaj gave him an annoyed look as he replied, "I told you I wasn't going to."

Cloud nodded, "Headache?"

"How did you know?"

"I think you drank a bit too much, so if you haven't slept either, you surely must have a headache. Besides, you're grumpy." Cloud stated, making Kadaj glare at him.

"I am not!"

Cloud shrugged, not bothering to reply as it would only make Kadaj even worse. Looking around, Cloud noticed a bakery that seemed to be about to open as two people were walking around inside there. If they just waited for a little longer they could head over there once it opened and buy something to eat, because now Cloud was really hungry. He had barely eaten yesterday, after all.

"Hungry?" He asked Kadaj, who was busy moping over what Cloud had just said.

"No."

"You must be. When did you last eat?"

"Never."

"Not since you died?"

Kadaj shook his head.

"Then we'll eat breakfast once that bakery is open." Cloud stated, earning a glare from Kadaj. Cloud had almost thought that, during these three days, Kadaj had maybe been allowed to have no need for food and water, but that thought had disappeared once Kadaj had needed to go to the toilet during their time at the bar. Cloud could also vaguely remember Kadaj having mumbled something about being hungry on their way out of that bar, so he was obviously just lying now. Whether or not Kadaj at all remembered their encounter with Reno and Rude, Cloud didn't know, but he hoped he did. Kadaj couldn't possibly have been **that** drunk.

"What are you looking at?" Kadaj asked, glaring at him again. First then did Cloud notice that his eyes had been on Kadaj while he was thinking, so he looked away without answering. Kadaj huffed then, "Don't you have a job? Shouldn't you be working?"

"It's Saturday, so no." Cloud replied, Kadaj's grumpiness starting to hit a nerve, so they sat in silence for the rest of the time it took before the bakery opened.

--

Having bought two small bread and two bottles of water, Cloud headed back to the bench, Kadaj waiting there as he hadn't wanted to join him. Reaching the bench, Cloud saw a cat purring as it circled Kadaj's legs, Kadaj busy petting it as it did so, so busy doing that that he was almost startled when Cloud's legs appeared in his sight. Looking up, Kadaj smiled with a sudden change in mood.

"This one!" He said, pointing at the cat, who reacted by cuddling his finger. Clearly Kadaj was referring to the animal he played with while Cloud slept.

"A cat." Cloud said, placing the paper bag with the food and water on the bench as he bent down and petted the cat once before sitting down. It was a pretty, orange cat with a long tail, eyes in the similar color as Kadaj's.

"Yes! That's what I thought." Kadaj claimed, continuing to pet his new friend.

Cloud put his hand down in the paper bag, taking out one of the breads and handing it to Kadaj.

"Here." He said, Kadaj turning to look at it before wrinkling his nose.

"I'm not hungry." He repeated, yet Cloud insisted.

"Yes you are."

"Am not!"

"You said you were some hours ago." Cloud then said, making Kadaj tilt his head.

"I did?" Cloud nodded, "Oh. But I'm not."

"Eat." Cloud concluded, pushing the bread into Kadaj's hand, "If you want to enjoy your last two days, you should eat, especially if you're not going to sleep. You must either eat or sleep, and it'll also help for your headache."

Kadaj pouted, "Why do you care if I'll enjoy them or not?"

"Because I'm going to spend those days with you."

Kadaj scowled at him, but seemingly having figured out that he'd lost as he ripped a small piece of the bread off and put it in his mouth, turning back to cuddle the cat more.

--

Soon after they both sat with a bottle of water in their hands, both bread eaten and the cat having headed off to sniff at random things in the park and look around, Kadaj following it with his eyes, now and then taking a sip of his water just like Cloud did with his. Getting a little bored by just looking at the cat, Kadaj looked over at Cloud instead.

"Why did he call you 'Chocobo head'?" He asked, suddenly remembering what Reno had called Cloud. The blonde glanced at him, drinking some more water before replying.

"Because of my hair."

"Huh?"

"Reno thinks my hair looks like the feathers on a chocobo." Cloud said, feeling the need to add, "But it really doesn't."

Kadaj tilted his head, "What's a chocobo?"

"A bird." Was all Cloud cared to explain with, drinking more water. Kadaj simply nodded, trying to think of all the birds he had seen during his life, but couldn't remember any of those having feathers alike Cloud's hair. It annoyed him.

"I want to see a chocobo." Kadaj stated.

"There's none here."

"Where are they?"

Cloud leaned his head back before answering, "Closest is on a chocobo farm one and a half hour with my bike away from Edge."

Kadaj pouted, though debating it. He really wanted to see a chocobo now. He wanted to see the similarity between it and Cloud's hair. He wanted to feel if it felt like Cloud's hair to touch it. He **really** wanted to see a chocobo.

"I want to see a chocobo." Kadaj repeated, having come to a conclusion. Cloud looked over at him.

"You want to see one even though it takes time to get there?" Cloud asked, in which Kadaj nodded, still with a vaguely unsure look on his face, but yes. He wanted to see a chocobo.

"Alright." Cloud said, standing up, "Let's go back to my bike then."

--

It had been a bit awkward, when they reached Fenrir. Once they'd both sat down on the bike Kadaj had been unsure how close to Cloud he should sit. He was used to his own bike, not to sit behind someone else, and Cloud refused to let him drive. He'd first thought to just sit behind there, until Cloud told him that if he didn't hold onto him he would fall off, in which Kadaj placed his hands on each side of Cloud's waist, lightly, startled when Cloud grabbed his hands and made him hold tightly around him before taking off, Kadaj almost lying onto his back. It was comfortable though, on the long ride. When they finally reached the farm, Kadaj found himself having almost fallen asleep against Cloud's back, which would've ruined everything since he was supposed to not sleep at all.

Once the engine of Cloud bike was turned off, Cloud sat more upright, waiting until Kadaj had gotten off before he did so himself. He'd stopped the bike a little beside one of the farm's houses, so they'd have to walk around it to reach the fence with the chocobo's, which Cloud told Kadaj as he walked.

Once the chocobo's were in sight, Kadaj stopped up.

"Is it those?" He asked, eyes widening a little bit as he got a nod in reply, "those are **birds**?"

Cloud nodded again, and continued to walk closer, Kadaj hesitantly following. Those things were way bigger than normal birds, so much bigger that they were scary now that he didn't have his Souba, though he would never admit that to Cloud. Once reaching the fence, one of the chocobo's walked over to Cloud who petted it softly on the head, Kadaj standing a little away from the fence, staring at it.

"So?" Cloud asked, turning his head to look at Kadaj who stood still and gave him a questioning look.

"So what?"

"Now you've seen a chocbo." Cloud shrugged.

Nodding his head, Kadaj replied while taking a step back, "Yeah. Let's head back."

"So that's all?"

Kadaj nodded again.

"You're not scared are you?"

"No."

Cloud petted the chocobo one final time, sighing at how pointless this had been if all Kadaj had wanted was to stare at it for two minutes before heading back, "Want to pet it or anything?"

Kadaj shook his head, "No, it's ok."

"So you want to head back after just two minutes here?" Cloud asked, slightly irritated, "You don't want to pet it, or see more of them? If we ask kindly you could probably get to ride on one of them too."

Kadaj's eyes widened more before he weakly replied, "No. It's ok. I want to head back now." Once after saying it, Kadaj realized how scared he must've sounded, so he quickly thought up a reason for his decision, "I don't have that much time. Now I've seen chocobos, and I want to see lots of other things as well, so we should head back." This he said in a braver voice.

"What do you want to see now then?"

"…I don't know."

Cloud shook his head with a sigh, understanding now that Kadaj clearly found these innocent creatures rather frightening. But there wasn't any point in trying to change Kadaj's mind now, so Cloud simply looked at the chocobos one last time before walking back to the bike, "Let's head back then."

Kadaj followed after, relieved.

--

As Kadaj kept claiming not to know what he wanted to do next, Cloud stopped by Zack's sword when close to Edge, deciding that to be the place where he would force Kadaj into saying **something** he wanted to do, even if that meant having to suggest a whole lot to him.

"Why are you stopping here?" Kadaj wondered, as Cloud turned off the engine again.

"Because we're going to figure out what you want to do."

"But I don't know!"

"Exactly." Cloud stayed at the bike though Kadaj went off of it, not bothering to argue further with Cloud as he instead walked closer to the sword, looking at the view of Edge before the sword took more of his interest.

"Why is this sword here?" He asked, placing a hand at the hilt of the sword.

"It's in memory of Zack." Cloud immediately regretted that he'd stopped here, disliking seeing Kadaj touching the sword.

"Who's Zack?"

"A friend I had." Cloud didn't like the subject they'd gotten into either. This wasn't something he liked to talk about.

"Did he die?" Kadaj asked, not sure if the memory of him only was random or because of the man's death, "Did he fall down here or something?"

"No. He was shot. Here."

Kadaj nodded, trailing a finger along the hilt of the sword before asking, "Is that why you're here so often?"

"How did you know?" Cloud asked, one eyebrow rising.

"You were here right before I first saw you. And besides, I'd been spying on you for some time before we finally met." Kadaj grinned, thinking back at how smart he had been for doing that, before his grin turned into a frown as his thoughts went to the fact that his plan failed.

"Why did you do it?" Cloud then asked.

"Spy on you?" Kadaj looked back at him, tilting his head.

"No. All of it."

Kadaj grinned, "Oh…" Then he moved so he stood close to the edge behind Zack's sword, laying his arms over the sword to lean on it. He wasn't one to understand how precious the item was to Cloud, who frowned as he saw the youth leaning over it.

"Mother and Sephiroth told me to do it." Kadaj begun, smirking at Cloud, "I could have refused. The thing was that both Mother and Sephiroth had been annoying me for so long…for as long as I can remember. Perhaps I was even born with them in my head, I don't know." Kadaj tilted his head with a thoughtful look, "The thing is, that that, which they told me to do, was something they'd been bugging me with the most. So, I figured that if I finally did as Mother said…I could maybe get rid of her. You understand?"

Cloud stared into Kadaj's questioning eyes, debating for a bit before replying, "…Kind of."

Kadaj smirked again, "You would've understood me completely if you also had voices not your own in your head all the time. If you had had that, you would've done it too."

Cloud didn't bother to reply, instead, he just shrugged. It was slightly understandable, all of it. Cloud would never accept what Kadaj had done back then, but his reasoning for doing it was a little more understandable than Cloud had thought it to be. Yet he wanted to claim that it was some of Kadaj's own insanity that must've caused it, but who wouldn't have gone insane by voices in ones head for so long? It all just went back and forth in Cloud's head, so he really didn't want to think or speak about it any more. The main remnant had said his answer, now it was time to lay it behind. Looking back up at Kadaj, Cloud noticed that he as well seemed to be quite thoughtful, staring down at the ground as he tilted back and forth on the sword (to Cloud's annoyance).

Noticing Cloud's eyes on him, Kadaj looked back, smiling to the blonde, a completely sane smile, or at least as sane of a smile as possible from those lips. Cloud found himself smiling the smallest of smiles in return, before the tilting of Zack's sword irritated him so much that he abruptly stood up and walked over. Once grabbing the hilt of the sword making Kadaj stand back up and let go of it, watching as Cloud steadied the sword once again.

They stood quietly in front of each other for a bit. Kadaj staring up into Cloud's blank expression, his own expression turning into a thoughtful one once again before another smile spread over his lips, and before Cloud managed to react, Kadaj's lips was on his in a chaste, clumsy kiss. Kadaj's hands placed on Cloud's cheeks, staying there as the youth pulled away, grinning.

"What..?" Cloud's eyes were wide in surprise.

"It's one of the things I wanted to do!" Kadaj said, "I've never kissed before."

"So you kissed me?"

Kadaj shrugged, hands still on each side of Cloud's pretty face, "Who else?"

Cloud sighed, before he dared to say, "That wasn't a proper kiss."

"It wasn't?" Kadaj looked surprised, obviously having thought that a kiss was just lips on lips and nothing else. Cloud shook his head, making Kadaj's hands fall back at the youth's sides by the move right before Cloud placed his hands similarly on Kadaj's face, on each side of it.

Hesitating only a little, Cloud mumbled, "This is a kiss." Before he placed his lips over Kadaj's, moving them softly over Kadaj's smooth ones, waiting until Kadaj had gotten over the surprise before he parted only a little to explain. "Just mimic what I do with my lips." And when he pressed their lips together again, Kadaj did as told. Once Kadaj's kissing became less clumsy, Cloud decided to go further. Having first started this, and realized how incredibly soft Kadaj's lips were, he could just as well make it a complete kiss. He first tried to simply move his tongue over Kadaj's lips, but as Kadaj didn't know anything at all about kissing, he clearly didn't take the hint. So Cloud parted, only an inch or two from Kadaj's lips. He brushed his fingers over them before pressing lightly on the bottom lip, causing Kadaj to open his mouth slightly, allowing Cloud to slowly move his tongue into Kadaj's mouth, which startled Kadaj enough to actually gasp.

Without thinking, Kadaj placed his hands on Cloud's waist, as if he needed something to keep him up. Cloud's tongue explored his mouth thoroughly, and although it seemed weird, it felt surprisingly good. Then, once Cloud's tongue begun to circle around his, Kadaj started to mimic him again, and their tongues circled each other for a while before both men needed air.

Parting fully, Cloud took a deep breath, letting go of Kadaj's face as Kadaj let go of his waist, and they looked at each other for a long, quiet time. Neither moved, just breathed, until Cloud let out a sigh.

"That's a kiss." Cloud concluded, turning to walk back to the bike, Kadaj still in a little bit of a shock at what he'd just experienced.

"I see…" He said, before blinking a couple of times, smiling as he went over to the bike as well.

"Let's head back into Edge." Cloud said, as if nothing had happened, and once Kadaj had sat down behind him, he started the engine.


	5. Harmony

Well here we go, sorry for slight delay, I just got a bit occupied with other stuffz. Thank you all for reviews~! (keep them coming xD) And thank you, Adeline, for such humorous and long ones~ :D haha, yes, Kadaj **thinks** he's 18...but is he? ;P I hope you all enjoy this next chapter~

--

**HARMONY**

"Do you eat **all** the time?" Kadaj asked, eyes wide with a slight tinge of annoyance in the eyebrows above them as Cloud had asked once again if he was hungry. Hadn't they eaten already? He didn't need more now.

"No. I eat a usual amount of food, and it would be time for dinner now, actually, considering we've already dropped lunch." Cloud stated, as it in fact was many hours since they last ate. It was 5 pm now, and all they had been doing till now was walking around, anyway. Kadaj had still not gotten up with anything to do next, he'd simply been glancing around at things they passed by, now and then asking questions about things they passed, and Cloud had kindly answered, but now it started to seem very pointless, and Cloud could feel a slight headache about to get worse. And with the lack of food he'd had, he figured food might be the best cure for it.

"But** I** don't want to eat all the time." Kadaj said, waving his hands dramatically as he rolled his eyes. Cloud sighed.

"What do you want to do then?"

There was a short silence between them, both simply looking at each other, and then Kadaj shrugged, shaking his head as he replied, "I don't know."

"Then why can't we eat while you keep thinking on that." Cloud mumbled, and then begun to walk as if the decision was made, starting to look after a place to eat, though he was stopped rather abruptly as Kadaj grabbed his hand and prevented him from walking further.

"Because I'm not hungry and I don't want to sit down!" Kadaj said with clear irritation in his voice, not letting go of Cloud's hand, so the blonde turned around to see a pout formed on Kadaj's lips as he added to his reasoning; "Besides. You said you were going to show me around."

Cloud looked up to the skies, sighing again before he replied, "Look, Kadaj…I will show you around. But first I want to eat. I'm hungry." He didn't look down at Kadaj again before finishing the sentence, and then he made a compromise, "If we eat now, I promise I won't eat again before you have left."

Kadaj's hold on his hand loosened, but he still wasn't sure, "And if we don't eat now?"

"Then I'll eat all the meals I usually do and force you to sit down with me."

Cloud's hand was suddenly free. A small 'tsk'-sound was heard from Kadaj and he grumbled, "Fine." In which Cloud nodded a thanks and started looking for a place to eat again.

Only a few seconds later Cloud was unlucky to miss the mischievous smirk forming on Kadaj's lips right before the youth's arms flung around him as Kadaj put all his weight on Cloud, clearly his feet didn't reach the ground when hanging around Cloud's neck due to their differences in height. The blonde stopped up, startled.

"Kadaj, what the..?"

The teen chuckled, leaning his head on his right shoulder so it was beside Cloud's, Kadaj's cheek brushing Cloud's ear, "I want to know how strong you are. Now, carry me all the way to wherever you want to eat."

Cloud's eyebrows furrowed, "Don't you already know how strong I am?"

The teen chuckled again, having gone from annoyed to clearly amused in a matter of seconds, "Well I'm not sure if you'll be able to carry me for a while without even having a quicker breath," he said, mouth only inches from Cloud's ear now, "besides, Loz used to carry me like this sometimes, and I miss it. Now you be Loz."

Cloud sighed, figuring the best would be to simply comply, "You tend to get things the way you want it, don't you…" He mumbled under his breath, making Kadaj unable to hear it although he was that close.

"What?" the youth asked, but Cloud just shook his head before reaching behind to get a hold of Kadaj's hips, lifting him further up, causing a startled laugh to escape Kadaj's lips. Placing the rather thin hips around his waist, Cloud held them there by keeping his hands on them as Kadaj clearly was planning to put no effort into keeping them there himself, only thing making it clear that he still wanted to be carried was the almost strangling hold he had around Cloud's neck with his arms. It was obvious though, that this only was for the youth's amusement, not curiosity. Kadaj was thin, rather short, and by that, light. He was no problem to someone like Cloud who used to carry a huge sword often.

Making sure he had a good hold on Kadaj, Cloud begun to walk again.

--

They'd reached a Wutaian restaurant, the only one in Edge. It was quite new, but Cloud had already become quite fond of it. In fact, it had become the place he headed to those times he really didn't feel like heading back to Seventh Heaven yet, though was hungry. And those times seemed to, for some reason, happen often nowadays. Kadaj seemed pretty sceptical about the place and especially its food, but then again, he wasn't hungry, as he'd stated himself, so he didn't have to eat anything. Once they'd settled down for Cloud to eat though, it took a few minutes with the youth staring at the food with his head in his hands before Kadaj suddenly snatched one of the vegetables from Cloud's food, eating it with tiny bites.

"You said you weren't hungry." Cloud said with slight annoyance at Kadaj for taking that vegetable without asking first.

"I'm not." Kadaj answered, continuing to eat the slice of cucumber. Cloud looked at him for a little longer, though didn't bother to say more as he simply shook his head and continued to eat. Either Kadaj lied, or he just loved vegetables a lot, because during the rest of the meal he kept snatching different kinds of vegetables from Cloud now and then. In the end, he wanted to actually try the Wutaian sauce, so he dipped his piece of paprika in it, and continued doing so throughout the rest of the meal.

"I kinda guessed that you didn't like Wutaian food from your reaction to this place." Cloud mumbled after taking a sip of water.

Kadaj shrugged, "I hadn't tasted it before."

"But you liked it?"

Kadaj nodded.

"Then, this was something you hadn't done before either."

Kadaj looked at him for a bit, disliking the fact the man was right. Though, this didn't change his plan of not eating from now on, so he changed the subject.

"Well, you are strong. You really didn't show any signs of carrying me all the way earlier."

It was Cloud's time to shrug, "What did you expect? I'm used to weights way heavier than you. Like my sword."

Suddenly Kadaj's eyes widened greatly as a smile spread over his face.

"Your sword! I want to try holding your sword!" He exclaimed, standing up and putting his hands on the table in front of Cloud.

Cloud sat quietly with a thoughtful look before replying, "…I don't think I'll let you do that."

At once Kadaj's excited expression turned into a hurt one as he fell back down into his chair, "Why not?"

There was a long silence before Kadaj figured Cloud wasn't planning to answer, but by the look on Cloud's face Kadaj realized soon enough why, "So you think I might run off and wreak havoc with your sword, is that why?"

"It's not weird that I think you might do that, Kadaj…" Cloud mumbled, looking down at the table.

"But I won't!" Kadaj said loudly, for some reason more hurt than angry.

"Kadaj, let's go." Was all Cloud answered with, standing up and walking to the door, not wanting Kadaj's temper to cause the whole restaurant's eyes on them. Staring after him for a bit first, Kadaj managed a little after to pull himself together enough to walk after the blonde. Once outside he had to hurry after Cloud as the man walked quickly.

"Really, Cloud, I won't! I promise!" Kadaj said as they walked. Cloud not answering to that either, so Kadaj continued, "I will just hold it for a second. Just for fun. Then you'll get it back. Honest!" He waited a few seconds more, though Cloud kept being quiet, "I honestly promise, Cloud. Why won't you trust—"

He was cut off by Cloud suddenly swirling around to face him, grabbing his face with both hands and staring into his eyes.

"I just. Don't. Kadaj." Cloud said, voice low and steady, yet shaking slightly. He kept staring into Kadaj's eyes, who looked into his in return as they stood there quietly for a long time. When a minute or so had passed Kadaj begun to blink his eyes more often as if trying to hold back tears, and Cloud's hands loosened their grip on his face slightly as he calmed down, looking calmly into Kadaj's eyes that surprised him for being way more beautiful than he'd thought. He let go of the youth's face completely as he mumbled, "I'm sorry."

Lifting his hand to his face Kadaj replied while using his sleeve to wipe away moisture from his eyes, "It's fine."

Cloud looked at him for a few seconds longer, "…I'll think about it. Letting you hold it."

The teen just shrugged, looking anywhere but at Cloud as he begun to walk again, not saying a word. They walked in longer than half an hour without saying anything, Kadaj not even turning or stopping up once to look back at Cloud. Until suddenly, when they'd reached a place where barely any other person was around them, he stopped up, turning to look at Cloud in silence for a while longer, the hurt expression still on his face, making Cloud feel worse than he already did.

"I really didn't…mean to do what I did back then." Kadaj said. His voice sad.

"I understand." Was all Cloud managed to say, trying to comfort somehow.

"I don't know what came over me. I know it wasn't the right thing to do but I just wanted those voices to stop."

"I know…"

"Well it doesn't seem like you do!" Kadaj shook his head while saying those words, closing his eyes for a second before looking away again. After a little longer, Cloud tried to speak while walking a little closer.

"Look, Kadaj…I just…need to think about it. I barely ever let anyone hold my sword…and then…you're not really the first one I'd…I mean…either way, that doesn't mean I don't…know."

Kadaj scowled at him, arms crossed over his chest, "You kinda suck at apologies, if that was one."

Cloud sighed, looking down at the ground between him and Kadaj, "…sorry."

Kadaj looked away again, not saying more. Cloud wasn't sure what to do. Kadaj was clearly hurt, very hurt, yet Cloud, as just stated by the youth himself, sucked at apologies. So in the end, Cloud figured the best way would be to apologize with touch. Putting his arms around Kadaj, Cloud hugged him tightly, something that would've been completely awkward for him had they not kissed earlier. Kadaj seemed rather startled himself, not moving a finger as he was pulled into Cloud's arms, nor did he push the blonde away. A few seconds later he gave in and laid his head on Cloud's shoulder, and soon after that he brought his hands around Cloud's waist. As they stood quietly like that, Cloud whispered into his ear, "I'm sorry."

Kadaj closed his eyes as he answered, "It's fine." Honest this time, compared to earlier, and he could feel Cloud's hands tighten slightly around him, "…you just think about it, then."

"I will." Cloud replied, burying his face in the crook of Kadaj's neck, not knowing why he was suddenly showing such affection to someone he hated two weeks ago, and only started to accept one day ago. He had no clue himself, it was just something about the way Kadaj was now…

Taking a deep breath, Cloud found himself even savouring the smell of Kadaj, and flowers. The same flowers that was in Aerith's church. These past 24 hours, Kadaj's company had been…enjoyable. Perhaps even before that. And barely anyone was enjoyable company to Cloud if it lasted more than 5 hours. 5 hours was usually more than enough. That was why he stayed away from Seventh Heaven so often.

After a long hug as it had become, they moved a little away from each other, and Cloud found himself getting truly sad at seeing tears once again beneath Kadaj's eyes, and he automatically reached a hand up and brushed them away, glad to see that Kadaj smiled slightly at it.

"What do you say about finding a hotel room where we can stay and consider where to go next? Or do you want to walk around more?" Cloud asked, seeing Kadaj consider the options a bit before replying.

"I guess a hotel room would be nice…for a little bit."

"Only if you want to." Cloud added, surprising Kadaj, unsure for a bit before he smiled to the blonde again, and a thought came over his mind that made the smile turn to a smirk.

"I've never stayed at a really expensive hotel room before…" Kadaj said mischievously, grinning. Cloud raised an eyebrow, yet smiled slightly himself.

"A really expensive one, eh…" Cloud thought for a second, before making a decision he knew Tifa was gonna kill him for the day she noticed, "Ok then."

--

The hotel room wasn't even just one room. It was three, plus the bathroom. It had a small kitchen, a tiny living room with a TV, and a bedroom with a huge bed. Everything was shiningly clean, and way too expensive. Yet, Cloud had already paid for it, for two nights even. He couldn't believe himself. Kadaj was already busy exploring it all, quickly turning on the TV only to turn and look into the fridge full of alcohol drinks, seconds later running over to the bedroom to explore the closets there.

"No clothes in here, huh." Kadaj said, plainly, as if he had halfway expected it and halfway not, closing the closet again.

"Of course it isn't. Did you want it to be?" Cloud questioned as he walked into the bedroom as well.

"Well, kinda, then I could've changed out of these ugly clothes I'm wearing, if there was any pretty ones in here." Kadaj explained.

"Your clothes aren't ugly."

"Well they're not pretty either." Kadaj walked over to look into the bathroom while he spoke, Cloud could hear him turn on and off the shower, and was almost surprised when he didn't hear a flush of the toilet. Coming out of the bathroom, Kadaj walked over to the window to look out, doing so for a bit before he finally returned back to Cloud, standing before him.

"What?" Cloud asked, as Kadaj seemed to have a very thoughtful look.

"…I must repay you somehow…" Kadaj said, still thoughtful.

"You don't have to…" Cloud answered, getting slightly unsure by Kadaj's look.

Tilting his head, Kadaj asked, "Did you like it when we kissed, Cloud?"

Cloud lost his voice at that, really not good at talking about such things, "I-…well…"

Kadaj tilted his head to the other side, smiling slightly as he walked closer, "Is it good repayment?"

And before Cloud was able to reply they kissed for the second time that day. Kadaj this time trying to do what Cloud had done, clumsy still, but at least moving his lips and knowing a little more what to do, but the angle they were in was awkward. Cloud seated on the bed while Kadaj leaned towards him, standing. It wasn't weird that Kadaj had a hard time doing what Cloud had done, so Cloud decided to help by grabbing Kadaj's waist and pull him with him backwards down on the bed, causing Kadaj to yelp and catch himself with his hands as they landed, lying above Cloud. Cloud quickly went back to the kissing; Kadaj's surprised stare wasn't what he wanted now, he pulled Kadaj down on himself as he claimed the youth's lips again, and Kadaj complied. Though, only a minute later Kadaj pulled away and exclaimed, "Oh, I haven't tried the bed!"

And so he rolled off of Cloud and lay down beside him instead, giggling slightly as Cloud looked at him with mild surprise at the sudden stop of kissing, but Kadaj smiled, so Cloud smiled in return, a little. He couldn't understand why Kadaj had that effect on him, but pushed the thought aside, deciding not to let Kadaj get away. Moving to support himself on his elbows on each side of Kadaj, Cloud looked down into those green eyes.

"What was that all about?" Cloud asked, amused, getting another giggle in return.

"The bed is soft." Was the only reply, as Kadaj moved a little to lie more comfortably, though letting Cloud stay above him, finally letting out a satisfied sigh, staying calm. Cloud waited till Kadaj had lied still for a bit before he dared to lay his head down on Kadaj's chest as he let out a deep breath, making Kadaj laugh slightly. And then they stayed like that, Kadaj staring up at the roof as Cloud could hear the beating of his heart, which almost puzzled the blonde.

"Why did they give you a heart when you're just going to be here for three days? You should think that they would have enough power to let you live without one, so no one could kill you during these days…"

"I don't know…" Kadaj replied quietly, and Cloud looked up to see his eyes half closed.

"…so what do you want to do now?" Cloud tried, but all he got was an even sleepier reply.

"I don't know…" Once again, so Cloud sighed, brushing away some silver strands from Kadaj's face.

"Tired, aren't you?"

A slight whimper was the only reply as Kadaj turned his head to the other side, his eyes almost completely closed.

"I told you, you should sleep…" Cloud mumbled, but from the way Kadaj was breathing, he was already asleep. Cloud shook his head slightly and kissed the youth's forehead.


End file.
